Cocktail of the week: The Grace Jones, Portside Parlour

East London rum bar Portside Parlour shares the recipe for one of its most
popular cocktails

Everybody knows that gin is big business these days: sales are booming, and there’s a bigger range on offer than ever before. But another spirit is having something of a moment too – rum.

Once a cheap drink glugged by sailors and pirates, rum is increasingly treated with the kind of reverence commanded by whisky. The spirit is made everywhere from Jamaica to the Philippines, and varies from dark and spicy to light and delicate. The trend for Cuban-style cocktails such as mojitos and daiquiris means that Tesco has more than doubled its range in the last three years, while at this year’s Rumfest in London – the world’s biggest rum festival – over 4,000 people flocked to try around 400 varieties of rum.

At Portside Parlour in Broadway Market, which claims to be East London’s “first and only rum bar”, one of the most popular cocktails is the Grace Jones, named for the Jamaican star. It pairs Appleton Estate eight year, an aged dark rum, with ginger liqueur, lime juice and mint, and is topped up with champagne.

The drink has an elegant, crisp taste on the first sip, while the rum creates lingering under-notes that bar manager Robbie Acres identifies as "oak, leather, floral vanilla and orange blossom”.

All in all, it’s a far cry from the kind of drink Blackbeard and company would once have swigged.